It appears that the previous rumor saying Samsung could drop the Pro/Evo naming scheme is true after all, as the 120GB Samsung 850 SSD model has been spotted online.

Spotted on Samsung's official Chinese site by Techpowerup.com, the Samsung 850 SSD, model MZ-7LN120, features Samsung's well-known MGX controller paired up with 3-bit MLC V-NAND and 256MB of LPDDR3 cache. Its sequential performance peaks at 540MB/s for read and 520MB/s for write, with a random 4K performance set at up to 88,000 IOPS for read and 70,000 IOPS for write.

Samsung also included a three year warranty or 75TBW, whichever comes first, and a reliability of 1.5 million hours.

Unfortunately, this is currently the only model listed without Pro/Evo suffix but others should probably follow soon.

Two years after Google showed how Rowhammer attacks could flip dynamic random access memory (DRAM) bits to induce those memory cells to change their state, IBM has shown how it can target MLC NAND flash memory.

The attack is nasty because it allows kernel-level privilege escalation - the holy grail of hacks

At this week’s Woot ’17 USENIX conference in Vancouver, researchers from Big Blue showed off a filesystem-level version of the attack against MLC NAND flash memory.

Researchers Anil Kurmus, Nikolas Ioannou, Matthias Neugschwandtner, Nikolaos Papandreou and Thomas Parnell said that the file system layer of this attack, shows that a random block corruption of a carefully chosen block is sufficient to achieve privilege escalation.

“In particular, to motivate the assumptions of this filesystem-level attack, we show the attack primitive that an attacker can obtain by making use of cell-to-cell interference is quite weak, and therefore requires a carefully crafted attack at the OS layer for successful exploitation,” the researchers said.

The Rowhammer hits deep layers of memory management, and in this case against flash memory, bring a lower barrier to entry.

“We use our knowledge of existing reliability mechanisms in SSDs (including ECC), to show that the attack primitive an attacker can obtain from MLC NAND flash weaknesses is a coarse granularity corruption: unlike in Rowhammer, where the attacker can flip a single bit, in the case of this attack the attacker can only corrupt one block of data,” the researchers said.

“We then show that this weaker attack primitive (when compared to flipping individual bits, which provides a higher level of control to the attacker) is nevertheless sufficient to mount a local privilege escalation attack.”

The flash version of the Rowhammer attack is a local attack, and can be carried out via side-channels, for example. The major weakness in flash being exploited is cell-to-cell interference, which affects the reliability of NAND devices. The interference results from programming voltages interfere with adjacent cells in a memory array, the researchers said.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced its newest OCZ VX500 SATA SSD series, which will be based on a Toshiba controller, 15nm MLC NAND and promises great price/GB with MLC-performance.

Available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities, the Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD series is based on the TC358790 controller, its 15nm MLC NAND and comes in a standard 2.5-inch form-factor with SATA 6Gbps interface.

What makes the OCZ VX500 SSD interesting is the promise that it will deliver the performance of a standard MLC-based SSD at a similar price range to TLC NAND based SSDs.

According to Toshiba, the OCZ VX500 SSD lineup hits sequential read performance of up to 550MB/S while sequential write performance depends on the model, reaching 485MB/s for the 128GB version, 510MB/s for the 256GB version and 515MB/s for the 512GB and 1TB versions. The random 4K performance peaks at 90,000 IOPS for read and 65,000 IOPS for write.

The Toshiba OCZ VX500 SSD series lineup is backed by a 5-year warranty, with an endurance rating of 74 to 592 TBW, depending on the capacity, and comes bundled with Acronis TrueImage cloning software.

According to some reports, the new Toshiba should appear in retail pretty soon priced at around US $65/€65 for the 128GB, US $95/€95 for the 256GB, US $150/€150 for the 512GB and US $340/€340 for the 1TB version.

Toshiba has launched its new OCZ RD400 SSD series which will be the first consumer NVMe/M.2 SSD that will ship in capacities reaching 1TB but also the first SSD launched in the new Toshiba - OCZ brand.

According to the provided specifications, the OCZ RD400 NVMe SSD reached sequential performance of up to 2,600MB/s for read and up to 1,600MB/s for write with random 4K read and write performance of up to 210,000 and 140,000 IOPS.

The Toshiba OCZ RD400 will be offered in two versions, as a stand-alone M.2 module or with a PCIe adapter card and be available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1024GB (1TB) capacities. The new OCZ RD400 has an endurance rating of up to 592 TBW (depending on the model) and is backed by a five-year warranty.

Although branded as a Toshiba SSD, the OCZ RD400 SSD will still be supported by both OCZ's SSD Utility Software and be a part of OCZ's Advanced Warranty.

The Toshiba OCZ RD400 SSD should be available soon with a price set at US $109.99 for the 128GB, US $169.99 for the 256GB, US $309.99 for the 512GB and US $739.99 for the 1024GB model. The models that come with a PCIe AIC will be around US $20 expensive.

Toshiba has unveiled its latest 2.5-inch consumer solid-state drives, the Toshiba Q300 and the Q300 Pro.

Based on Toshiba controllers and paired up with either TLC or MLC NAND, both drives are based on standard SATA interface and standard 2.5-inch 7mm-thick form-factor.

Aimed at read extensive applications and to be available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities, the Toshiba Q300 Pro is based on Toshiba's own TC85NC1000 controller paired up with Toshiba 2-bit-per-cell (MLC) NAND. It has a sequential read of up to 550MB/s while sequential write performance is set at 520MB/s. The 4K random performance tops out at 92k IOPS for read and 63k IOPS for write.

The Toshiba Q300 Pro SSD also comes with SLC caching, QSBC Error Correction, Patrol Read and Thermal Control Sensor features and have lower 3.3W load and 125mW idle power consumption.

The Toshiba Q300 SSD, on the other hand, is based on Toshiba's TC358790 controller paired up with 3-bit-per-cell (TLC) flash NAND. It has a slightly higher sequential performance, reaching up to 550MB/s for read and 530MB/s for write, while random 4K performance is set at up to 87k IOPS for read and 83k IOPS for write. This one will be available in 120, 240, 480 and 960GB capacities.

Unlike the Toshiba Q300 Pro, the Q300 only has SLC caching technology and lacks all other features.

According to Toshiba, the Q300 Pro is aimed at gaming, graphics design and animation while the Q300 is for HDD upgrade and everyday computing. The Q300 Pro is also backed by a 5-year warranty while the Q300 comes with a 3-year warranty.

The price of the Toshiba Q300 Pro starts at US $124.99 for the 128GB, US $199.99 for the 256GB and US $389.99 for the 512GB version and will be available later this month. The Toshiba Q300 is shipping now with a price set at US $99.99 for the 120GB version, US $159.99 for the 240GB version, US $309.99 for the 480GB version and US $449.99 for the 960GB version.

OCZ is working on yet another member of the Vector SSD lineup, the Vector 180. Techpowerup managed to spot it at the Computex 2014 floor and score some pictures of the PCB as well as some details regarding the expected performance of the new SSD.

The upcoming Vector 180 will be a high-end 2.5-inch consumer SSD based on OCZ-Indilinx Barefoot 3 M00 series controller which will be paired up with Toshiba's 19nm MLC NAND. According to OCZ, the new Vector 180 will pack quite a few features which will also make it suitable for entry-enterprise markets as well.

The first PCB pictures of the OCZ Vector 180 show LPDDR3 cache as well as a power-outage mitigating logic part which will finish all current read and write operations if it senses a power outage or unstable power, which should prevent data loss.

According to first informations, the upcoming Vector 180 SSD will be available in capacities of up to 960GB and offer sequential transfer speeds of up to 550MB/s with 4K random performance will be at up to 100,000 IOPS.

Hopefully, the OCZ Vector 180 official release is not far away and we will hear more about it soon.

OCZ has finally released its newest Vector Series of solid state drives, based on Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller, rather than the now standard Sandforce controller.

Available in 128, 256 and 512GB capacities and standard 2.5-inch, 7mm ultra-slim form factor, the new Vector SSD Series uses the Indilinx Barefoot 3 controller paired up with MLC NAND chips and SATA 6Gbps interface. OCZ decided that the new Vector Series is quite good enough to be called "a groundbreaker" in performance, reliability, efficiency and endurance.

With up to 95k IOPS in random 4k read and up to 100k IOPS in random 4k write it certainly has enough punch to be quite a performance groundbreaker. The 128GB version can deliver 550MB/s sequential read and 400MB/s sequential write performance, as well as 90k IOPS of 4k random write and 95k of 4k random read performance.

The 256GB and 512GB versions both feature the same 550MB/s of sequential read and up to 530MB/s of sequential write performance with aforementioned 100k/95k IOPS random write and read performance.

The new Vector Series SSDs also come with TRIM and Idle Time Garbage Collection performance optimizations and are bundled with Acronis cloning software registration key and 3.5-inch desktop adapter.

Although the official price has not been announced a quick check at our favorite price search engine shows that it sells for around €150 for the 128GB one, around €270 for the 256GB version and around €500 for the 512GB version. In case you are coming from the USA, Newegg.com currently lists it at US $159.99, $289.99 and $569.99 with free shipping for all three models.

All we need now are some reviews to see how well does it actually perform against the Sandforce-based competition.

Samsung has announced that its new Samsung 840 family of SSDs is finally available for purchase and will be bundled with the download code for Assassin's Creed III.

In case you missed it, the Samsung 840 Pro SSD is based on an advanced Samsung MDX controller paired up with standard MLC NAND chips, while the standard, non-pro, 840 series SSDs will be based on the same controller which is paired up with TLC (triple-level cell) Toggle DDR2 flash memory, making it a bit more affordable. The entire series feature SATA 6Gbps interface and is housed in a 7mm 2.5-inch form factor.

The 840 Pro version is available in 128, 256 and 512GB capacities with transfer speeds of up to 540MB/s and 620MB/s for sequential read and write, and random read and write performance of up to 100K IOPS and 90K IOPS. Bear in mind that the 128GB is somewhat slower at 530/390MB/s and 97/90K IOPS.

The plain 840 series on the other hand is somewhat slower on the write front and offer speeds of up to 330MB/s, mostly due to cheaper TLC NAND chips. The 840 series will be available in 120, 250 and 500GB capacities.

The Assassin's Creed III download code will be bundled with Samsung 830 Pro SSDs and it appears that we are talking about limited offer that might not be available in all regions, but you should definitely keep an eye out for it.

In addition to recent price cuts across its SSD range, Intel has added a new 240GB model to its SSD 330 series. Introduced back in April, the Intel 330 series SSDs were available in 60, 120 and 180GB capacities and offered quite competitive pricing.

This 2.5-inch SATA 6Gbps 330 series SSD is based on the LSI-Sandforce SF-2281 controller paired up with 25nm MLC NAND flash chips and will offer sequential speeds of up to 500MB/s for read and up to 450MB/s for write. The random 4K performance is set at 42K IOPS for read and 52K IOPS for write. In case you missed it, the performance numbers are exactly the same as on the 180GB model.

Unfortunately, Intel has not announced the price or the availabiltiy date, but judging by the rest of the lineup, it could end up in the US $200 range.

We stumbled upon a rather sweet deal in Europe where OCZ's Petrol SSD sells for as low as €0,50 per GB. Of course, OCZ Petrol is not a high-end SSD, but it is still way faster than any HDD.

Mindfactory.de, one of pretty good retailers/e-tailers in Europe is currently listing the 256GB OCZ Petrol SSD for as low as €129.99. Back when it was initially launched and available in Europe, it was selling for a rather steep €154,90 for the 128GB version, but now it looks like a great deal.

In case you missed it, the OCZ Petrol uses Indilinx Everest controller and it is available in 64, 128, 256 and 512GB capacities. It has sequential read and write speeds of up to 370 MB/s and 250MB/s with up to 34K random read IOPS. The difference between the Octane and Petrol is in the choice of NAND flash chips, while Octane uses synchronous NAND, Petrol sticks with cheaper asynchronous NAND flash chips.

If you are wondering about the rest of the lineup, the 64GB one is currently listed in Europe with a lowest price set at €53,90 for the 64GB one, €86,71 for the 128GB model and €449,98 for the top 512GB one.

You can check out the rest of the listings here and you can find the Mindfactory.de one here.